Husky Tri festival seems to grow every year and for good reason. The family friendly event really captures everything most athletes yearn for. A beautiful scenic course that including a snorkel worthy swim leg, some nice undulations on the bike and a scenic coastal run. Other winning factors are the multitude of events on offer, the easy drive from Sydney, a decent pro prize purse and a terrific racing atmosphere brought about by a supportive community and easy spectating.

Matt Dixon and I eyed-off the start list and formulated a plan to try and win this race without taking too much away from my Melbourne prep. The plan being to swim well getting out with the front group, (always easier said then done for me), sit with the group until the 2^nd of the 3 laps and then attack for 2 laps to build a little buffer for the run given that the world class dual Olympian Brad Khalefeldt was racing.  In retrospect this would have been a fantastic plan if I could have stuck to it. I swam well, exiting with the front group spoiling some of the boys well-formulated plan to drop me from the swim pack with some solid surges at the buoy turns. After 5kms of piddling around on the bike I knew the group couldn’t ride this speed and have a chance against Brad in a running race so I put in a very long sustained effort over the next two laps. Not necessarily trying to get away but pushing the speed enough that I could induce some level of fatigue in Brad’s 30 minute 10k running legs.

The gap would waver from 12m to 150m throughout each lap and Sam Appleton was really impressive, dragging the group back towards me although I was a little bummed he wasn’t thinking like Michael Fox and trying to force Brad to close the gap. On the third lap Foxy came past me and told me Brad had received a penalty and with a mixture of relief and feeling a little bad for Brad I was content to let Foxy help set the pace (15m ahead ‘Vic’ from www.firstoffthebike.com ) of which he did great job.  Brad ended up running back into 4^th place despite the penalty. It was a real honour to race with such a legend of ITU racing. I hope he continues to mix up his race calendar with non-drafting events as I’m sure once he gets use to riding crunched over a TT bike at steady state power he’ll be very dominant. About that time we picked up one of the truly nice pros, Benny Allen who I had no idea was out in front. Ben focuses on off-road Xterra racing so doesn’t spend that much time on his time trial bike however he really should. With his incredible swim background and cycling potential it’s in his DNA to punish speedy runners.

After my usual sluggish transition Ben, Sam and Foxy had a gap. I wound them in and they dropped off except Sam, who despite stacking it and losing some skin in the process ran along side me. The pace was fairly high but I could hear Sam’s feet kicking the ground a lot and he was breathing heavily. I wasn’t comfortable either and really didn’t want to run this pace for 20kms so at about 6 kms I lifted the pace more and thankfully he dropped off. I pushed until 10kms and then at the turn around I liked the gap and was able to relax and enjoy the 2^nd 10kms far more.

A few years ago, racing as an age-group competitor Husky was far and away my favourite event. I remember watching in absolute awe when Leon Griffin, Craig Alexander and Pete Jacobs belted around the course to win in different years, so to be able to win is very cool. Thanks to Emo and the team at Elite Energy, to Karl Hayes for a bed to sleep in and to all the people hollering out on course.

Cheers!

Reedy

Back to one of my favourite races on Sunday, Australia’s oldest triathlon, the Nepean Tri. The organisers of this event achieve something special every year with no real thought of personal gain in their minds except the buzz of once again creating a special event.  With $3500 on the line for the win with a bonus $1000 if you beat the first placed female (who have approximately a 10 minute head start) it’s potentially a nice pay day for less than 2 hours of suffering. Last year I was able to win the race by attacking early on the bike and building a nice lead. However I had a feeling this year people weren’t going to let me get away so easily and that it might come down to the run. With 2 x Olympian Courtney Atkinson racing and ITU athlete Cam Good in the mix coupled with soreness still in my legs from last weekend leaving the race to the run was not something I wanted to do if I could help it.

As it turned out, I didn’t have much of a choice. I positioned myself poorly at the swim start, perhaps a little over confident in my swimming ability and quickly saw there were two groups to the right and the left and I was solo in the middle. For those unaware of open water swimming tactics, if you’re swimming behind a group of other swimmers with your hands almost touching their feet the moving water pulls you along and you are often able to swim at the pace of the guy leading the group who in reality is a far better swimmer than you. For someone like myself, in short course racing it’s imperative I make that group in the first few hundred metres or it’s very easily to lose a lot of time swimming solo or with only one or two others. Which is exactly what ended up happening.

30 seconds down out of the water and 40 seconds down by the time we were out of transition, with Courtney showing how important transition time can be I spent the first 15kms riding flat chat to brige to the group who are allowed to ride very close together, approximately half the space of long course. Joey Lampe and Michael Fox were playing it smart and really trying to drive the pace. Not only to try and keep me out of the race but also because they had guys like Courtney on their wheel and Cam Good close behind mine who can run 30-31 minute 10km run splits.

Onto the 2nd lap and I caught the group and waited in the line of riders for a while to get my breath back. I then tried a few feeble attempts with Joey to get away again however they were quickly shut down and I waited for the impending burn on the run.

Onto the run I was once again impressed at the speed of Courtney’s transition. I spent the first 2kms getting back up to Courtney, Michael Murphy and Michael Fox and then the pace really dropped off for a while. Everyone was letting Courtney dictate the pace because we knew at some point he would switch the after burners on and we would all be hanging on for dear life. At this time Cam Good had caught us which now had me worried. As he joined us I sarcastically thanked him for taking his turn on the bike not because he had done anything wrong at all, he had played it all within the rules and smartly saved his legs to battle against Courtney on the run but more because the thought crossed my mind that if I could get into his head and make him feel bad he might think I’m really pissed off and willing to dig deeper on the run then he is willing to. Plus I had to live up to my new reputation as the angry gnome in these shorter races. Something that I know needs to be wound back. ‘LMS’ or little man syndrome is a true medical condition. I’m raising money for it’s research and treatment so please send all cheques directly to me 🙂 In all seriousness, I wasn’t actually angry at all, I love Cam. I was simply trying to get an edge over a guy who I think is a superior runner.

At around 5kms Courtney started to build gradually pulling away. I started to click up some gears too with first Murphy dropping off, followed by Fox. Cam took the lead so I followed in his draft deciding that my best option was to surge with 4kms to go and then try and hold on. I pulled away 10m from Cam and then worked very hard to extend it until about 15m and then kept the gas on all the way to the finish line finishing 2nd. Courtney outsprinted the lead female by less than a second to win the bonus money on offer. Cam finished 3rd, Michael Fox 4th and Kieran Roche 5th who despite having a shocker swim for him, riding solo and then running brilliantly to get into the money. A name of the future, along with Michael Fox. The BGFG, Joey Lampe had a stinker run. However knowing Joey’s consistency that means he’ll probably win Noosa next week. You can never pick his form but when it’s on he is a real force.

Huge thanks to Warwick and Gordon for once again putting on another stellar Nepean tri that really supports pros racing over shorter distances.

Big thank you also to my non-triathlon interested friends that made the surprise trip out to Penrith to give some whole hearted, pants down support. Very different but very entertaining.

Courtney sprinting for the overall bonus..

I was nervous. 10 long hours squished between the BGFG, Joey Lampe and Luke Martin. Our beat up $800 Commodore station wagon with one of those stupid mufflers that actually amplifies the sound of your engine bellowed it’s way into the car park of the Yeppoon Mecure Resort. A sigh of relief all round that the old beast got us there.

Despite our best efforts to learn the language of the Queensland people, we had to resign to the fact we were too highly evolved. Thankfully, we understood enough of the hand signals and grunting to find our rooms and I was pleased to be sharing with the mayor of Adelaide, the honourable Matty White.

In a sport that requires a fair degree of selfishness, it’s hard to beat this race for winning back some brownie points as it’s a definitely a family friendly race with great pools, a beautiful beach just a lazy stroll away and a resort that doesn’t leave you wanting for much more. I rang my wife back at home and told her all about it.

My last race here was in 2009 where I raced in the open/pro category. While I was still racing age-group for most races the prize money was low enough that anyone could jump into that category. It was on that occasion that I first met Matty White 7kms into the run, when we were running side by side, at the front of the race. Still fairly new to the sport and an arrogant little turd, instead of focusing on how I was going to beat the fine specimen next to me, I started planning my winning speech, running through all the people I was going to thank, including Tim Berkel, who we were just ahead of, and who had really taken me under his wing in the early years helping me out with equipment, training advice and much much more. By 8 kms, my balloon sized head quickly deflated, I could barely run and both Matty White and Tim Berkel dropped me like a bad smell as I slunk home well off the pace.

Fast-forward to 2012, a lot more training and respect for my competitors and I was ready to give it a really solid nudge to see how my prep for Vegas 70.3 was coming along.

Light winds had whipped up some chop and swell for the 1.9km swim making things slightly more challenging for competitors. However, any nerves that the pros were feeling were soon quelled as Mitch Anderson looked across at Joe Lampe on the start line and repeated the timeless line from ‘Anchorman’ “I love lamp”. Instead of thinking about the race, I started thinking about how good the Anchorman sequel is going to be.

On that note we sprinted into the swell and I’m not sure whether it was the irregular nature of the waves or the sand surface underneath but it was like a reverse war scene where my fellow soldiers were charging the water (instead of the land) and dropping left right and centre. Bemused at every body falling over themselves, I just went on my merry way and started swimming. Within a few strokes I noted that Joe Lampe and Sam Better were still running and only up to the knees so I tried to do the same only to find that I was chest deep bringing up a rage of small man syndrome for years of midget torment. Sam, Matt Bailey and Joey were off. I raged my way through the first few hundred metres bringing back a couple of faster swimmers and started to relax as the main pack settled into a rhythm.

After suffering punctures in both Phuket 70.3 and Racine 70.3, where I felt I was poised to have very good days, I took no chances for this race and had wrapped up a bundle of tyres, changing equipment, sealant, a disc adaptor, scalpel, Swiss army knife, matches and a one man tent. While I was tucking all that up the front of my tri jersey the chase group got away. I got on the bike and was relieved to know that my pegs were going to work for me. I caught the group, rode to the front and set about winding in Joey Lampe and Matt Bailey. Joey, being one of my major concerns in the race as he has the potential to seriously dominate when he is healthy. Within 10kms we had reeled them in and the pace became leisurely with the usual tactics being played out that are so common in Aussie races.

As the ride progressed I was growing concerned. Sam Betten was riding really well and putting time into us on every lap and I knew if the bike was easy, guys like Johnny Poulson have the running pedigree to run away from everyone.  I was planning an attack at the turn on the 3^rd of the 5laps and thankfully Matty White had exactly the same mindset. As he passed me he yelled “we need to get rid of Poulson” to which I replied “let’s whack them at the next U turn” which got me thinking about why I used the expression ‘whack’. I decided to blame FOB’s ‘Tripod’ podcast where the term is thrown an average of 96 times an episode and must have subconsciously seeped into my brain. Strange term considering that when I was a gangster it meant to kill somebody and when I was at high school it meant something completely different. While my annoying brain was considering all this, the Mayor had launched and I reeled in my thoughts and did the old sling shot 2^nd launch and the group was split with Matt Bailey the only guy coming with us. Joey Lampe then pulled the pin, weeks of a cold and not much training catching up with him. We kept the speed high for the remainder of the ride gaining some good time and stopping the time loss to Betten.

Informed in T2 that Betten had about 3.5 minutes, I did the maths and figured that big bugger should be pretty tired after riding superbly and 90 seconds each 7km should have me near the front. The bike course is not ideal, with very rough roads and multiple loops, however what the bike course lacks the run course makes up for many times over. With about 50% of the run on sandy trail and dense bushland either side, I felt like I was back at home running over the trails of Lord Howe Island with my brother from a much taller, red headed mother, Ollie Whistler, revelling in the pleasure that trail running provides. I went fairly hard the first lap bringing back over 2 minutes and from there was able to relax a little more. Matty White had not come with me, I suspect his 5 days in Vegas partying playing some part in that.

I was able to catch Betten in the early stages of the 3^rd lap and to make sure that he didn’t try to come with me. I gave him a smart arse pat on the bum and told him how impressive his bike ride had been and then ran away a lot quicker than I had been running, away from him. Of course once we were back in the bushland and he was out of sight, I slowed back down to a pace where I could breathe again. For a 70.3 debut the guy was seriously impressive.

I was extremely happy to take the win, pleased that the hard work for the 70.3 World Champs seems to be paying off. Sam Betten held on for second with Matty White coming in third.

As always, thank you to my wife Monica.
Big thanks also to my sponsors Zoot, Vision, Speedfil, Rudy Project, Budgy Smuggler and SIS.
Cheers,

Tim